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The design-by-adaptation approach to universal access: learning from videogame technology

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Abstract

This paper proposes an alternative approach to the design of universally accessible interfaces to that provided by formal design frameworks applied ab initio to the development of new software. This approach, design-by-adaptation, involves the transfer of interface technology and/or design principles from one application domain to another, in situations where the recipient domain is similar to the host domain in terms of modelled systems, tasks and users. Using the example of interaction in 3D virtual environments, the paper explores how principles underlying the design of videogame interfaces may be applied to a broad family of visualization and analysis software which handles geographical data (virtual geographic environments, or VGEs). One of the motivations behind the current study is that VGE technology lags some way behind videogame technology in the modelling of 3D environments, and has a less-developed track record in providing the variety of interaction methods needed to undertake varied tasks in 3D virtual worlds by users with varied levels of experience. The current analysis extracted a set of interaction principles from videogames which were used to devise a set of 3D task interfaces that have been implemented in a prototype VGE for formal evaluation.

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Notes

  1. Considering the hand’s position, sampled over the last 5 s at a rate of 10 Hz, to be sufficient to determine the current state of the system, then 50 input values need to be considered, and hence 50 DOF.

  2. Metaphoric entailments are the implications of the signifier—i.e., the metaphor—about the signified—i.e., the interface.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank conference participants who provided comments on an original version of this paper, which was presented at the International Conference on Virtual Geographic Environments, held at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, January 2008, and also to three anonymous referees for their incisive and helpful comments on the journal version of the paper.

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  1. Department of Marketing and Enterprise, Middlesex University, The Burroughs, London, NW4 4BT, UK

    Ifan D. H. Shepherd

  2. Valve Software, 10900 NE 4th St., Suite 500, Bellevue, WA, 98004, USA

    Iestyn D. Bleasdale-Shepherd

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Shepherd, I.D.H., Bleasdale-Shepherd, I.D. The design-by-adaptation approach to universal access: learning from videogame technology. Univ Access Inf Soc 10, 319–336 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10209-010-0204-x

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